(Untitled)

[wwidsith]

The Anglo-Saxons had no word for the common purple-flowering plants which grew by the side of the road all over England (which is strange, since they are found across Europe).  As you might expect, they decided to borrow the Latin word, malva, which in Old English came out as mealwe (a reminder, as though you needed one, that Vs in Latin were

Comments

[rag_and_bone]

Marshmallows, by the way, were originally made from the roots of mallows which grew in marshes. Sounds....kind of hideous.

at least it's not HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP (shudders)

[muckefuck]

The Anglo-Saxons had no word for the common purple-flowering plants which grew by the side of the road all over England (which is strange, since they are found across Europe).

I find it difficult to understand how one can conclude from the fact that the only attested word for "mallow" in Old English is a Latin borrowing that this is the only word which ever existed in that language. From where I sit, the historical record is nowhere near complete enough to support such an inference.

In modern German, the word is Malve, which is also derived from Latin malva. The difference is that this is only present from early modern times (17th or 18th century, IIRC) and doesn't displace native Pappel until even more recently. The exact origin of this earlier word is unknown, but an Old Saxon pappilla is attested and Kluge suspects a connexion to modern Papp "mush, paste".

It's hard to make generalisations about why one word displaces another in this way. In German, it may be the homophony of Pappel with Pappel "poplar" (from Latin populus) that

[wwidsith]

haha. originally I wrote "apparently", but it was an early deletion on grounds of simplicity. I should have known it would annoy you though..

[weofodthignen]

Oh that's what aniline purple is!

M